NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Ends 11-Year Mission
NASA has concluded that the 11-year mission of the Dawn Spacecraft and its exploration of Vesta and Ceres, two of the largest objects in the asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter, has come to an end. According to the space agency, the spacecraft missed scheduled communications sessions with NASA’s Deep Space Network not only on […]
Where are Ceres Large Craters?
After NASA’s Dawn spacecraft had passed by the asteroid Vesta, on its way to rendezvous with Ceres, mission scientists noticed that its surface was banged up with a lot of very large craters. Its biggest impact crater is Rheasilvia, which measures 505 km in diameter. They expected that Ceres would also be seriously pitted with giant impact basins too. […]
NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft Begins Approach to Dwarf Planet Ceres
NASA’s Dawn spacecraft is getting set for the final segment of its planned ten-year mission after entering the approach phase of its visit to the dwarf planet Ceres. This dwarf planet, with an average diameter of 950 kilometers, is the largest object in the asteroid belt, a region of space located between the orbits of […]
Science Scanner: Mapping an Asteroid; Why the Universe Didn’t Collapse; Spicy Food Saves Lives
Scientists Create Geologic and Tectonic Map of Vesta the Asteroid A group of scientists used high-resolution images captured by NASA’s Dawn Spacecraft between 2011 and 2012 to create what they say is the first total geologic and tectonic map of the asteroid Vesta. Details on the work appear in the December edition of the journal […]
Evidence of Water Vapor Found on Dwarf Planet Ceres
Scientists have found signs of water vapor on the dwarf planet known as Ceres. “This is the first time water vapor has been unequivocally detected on Ceres or any other object in the asteroid belt and provides proof that Ceres has an icy surface and an atmosphere,” said Michael Küppers of the European Space Agency. […]